Schroders is to launch a Guernsey-domiciled commodity investment trust to be managed by absolute return multi-manager specialist Schroders NewFinance Capital.

The Schroder Opus Commodity Fund will be managed by David Mooney and willl mirror the existing Opus Commodities Core Plus strategy, run by the NewFinance Capital team since 2007.

According to Schroders, the multi-manager closed-end fund will invest through specialist active managers and a commodities futures portfolio.

The investment trust will aim outperform the DJ-UBS Commodity Total Return Index by 6 to 9 per cent per annum net of fees over a market cycle and provide 100 per cent exposure to the benchmark index, with a 5 per cent tracking error.

Robin Stoakley, managing director of Schroders’ UK Intermediary Business, said, 'This fund will give investors efficient, quoted access to the commodity markets at a time when continued global economic growth and inflexible supply after the global recession are driving the commodities markets.

'David Mooney and the Schroders NewFinance Capital team have an excellent track record of generating solid returns in commodities markets and I am very confident that they will continue to generate strong returns for our investors.'

Mooney added, 'With global economic growth on a sustained track, and concentrated in emerging markets, and with the costs of commodities exploration and production under relentless upward pressure, we are in an extraordinary period for commodities.

'This fund gives investors risk-adjusted access to the asset class through best-in-class managers.'

Marketing for the launch will begin in May, with a target closing date set for the end of June 2011.

The annual management charge will be 60 basis points, with a performance fee of 10 per cent on the relative outperformance against the benchmark - subject to absolute high water mark.